I could not have had a better place to learn golf course design. As vice president of the firm, I was involved in literally every part of the golf course design business. The international experience, particularly in Europe really allowed me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of golf and initiated my desire to design new courses that feel old.

It was simply a situation where I felt that if I did not force myself out of the nest and explore some new avenues in golf architecture that I wanted to explore, someday I could wake up and regret not trying.

A wide combination of skills are required. One must not only have a good understanding of the game of golf and design aptitude, but it is also necessary to have a practical knowledge of civil engineering (primarily grading and drainage), agronomy and graphic arts. I also did course work that included subjects from business law to terrain analysis. It is equally important to have the ability to visualize three dimensionally, which as I have learned over the years, not many people have. Of course, even with all of the proper training and design ability, you need to be able to communicate and sell your ideas to a broad range of people. Unfortunately, in the context of today’s high gloss design ‘firms’, the real design talent can be lost behind the ‘architect of record’ who is too often firstly a good salesman and promoter, with very little if any real experience or talent for design.

Developing a style or theme from the onset is very important. We spend considerable time with the owner and project team to define the “story”. My goal is to give each of our clients a unique story that is in harmony with the total development.